There are a wide variety of traps available for both recreational and commercial crabbing activities. The related art includes two main types of traps: 1) an enclosed structure that provides limited entry and interior elements that prevent crabs from escaping once they have entered (also interchangeably referred to herein as “crab pots”); and 2) a manually operated trap that encloses crabs when retrieved. One main difference between these two types of traps is that crabs that feed on the bait of manually operated traps are often able to escape the trap if it is not manually closed when a crab is in the trap. Manually operated traps are preferred by recreational crabbers due to their smaller size and legal limitations on the recreational use of crab pots.
A common type of manually operated crab trap in the related art is a wire crab trap with hinged sides or doors. Several types of these related art traps are known, having varying features. One type is basically square footprint wire trap with four hinged sides, such as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,044,493. This trap design has been altered in a number of caes, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,554,760; 5,625,978; 4,765,088; D401,994; D466,964; and D494,653. One drawback of this type of trap is that it is often prone to malfunction due to opening sides extending beyond the horizontal position. These traps also tend to have gaps between the closing sides during retrieval, allowing enclosed crabs the opportunity for a quick escape. Further, Some of these traps do not fully collapse for transportation or storage without incorporating some level of de-construction to do so.
Another crab trap design utilizes multi-paneled closing sides (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,950,885) that are triangular in shape and close into a central pillar. One drawback of this design is that the central pillar and lines that are attached to the center of each side provide obstructions for the crabs, which may become entangled in the ropes and/or discouraged by the central pillar while approaching the bait. This design also develops gaps during the closure process, providing crabs with the opportunity to escape during closure.
It is against this background that aspects of the presented invention have been developed.